Chris Van Hollen condemns ‘unjust situation’ and says vice-president blocked access to wrongly deported man***
Maryland’s Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen says the government of El Salvador has denied his request to visit Kilmar Ábrego García, his constituent who was wrongly deported to the Central American country last month.
Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday with the intention of meeting Ábrego García at the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), where US authorities have said that the Maryland resident is being held along with others deported at Donald Trump’s orders.
The senator’s visit came days after Trump and El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, refused to take steps to return Ábrego García to the United States, even though the US supreme court last week said the administration must “facilitate” his return.
It should be fairly normal to decline a random politician from another country a request no one else gets.
It reeks a bit of American exceptionalism that US senators should get special rights. If a random politician from, say, the Netherlands asked to see someone held in Guantanamo Bay the US will do fuck all to accommodate this request.
My comment is not a justification for the deportation of that guy by the way. I just don’t think it should be notable, as random politicians usually enjoy much, much fewer rights than head of states.
I can’t reason why you would make this comment, I have to assume no logic was used. How about the fact that ICE admitted that the man was deported in error, is that enough justification? Your comparison makes no sense because it assumes the man is being imprisoned for just cause. The Maryland man was a constituent of the Maryland senator.
I’m tired of the whataboutism bullshit rhetoric.
Guantanamo Bay doesn’t rely on any cause though? It’s literally a US torture camp where nothing matters. No due process, no just cause, no nothing. It’s worse than CECOT in everything but scale.
Have you ever seen any country’s opposition figure successfully demand something from another country? I personally haven’t. Usually the government alone controls any and all foreign relations.
Hell, Israel has literally detained and deported two British MPs on a parliamentary delegation - not just a visit. And they’re part of the governing party, no less!
It’s genuinely not surprising that El Salvador reacts this way. It’s the literal default reaction to a nongovernmental politician demanding something.
And yes, I think it’s appalling that the I US deports anyone and everyone, legally or otherwise. This doesn’t affect El Salvador though since they detain whoever the US sends there. The US argues this man is a terrorist, therefore this is sufficient justification for them.
Had Britain started deporting migrants to Rwanda and a MP from the Green Party requested to visit someone “mistakenly” deported, they would’ve been denied access as well.
I just really don’t think there’s anything noteworthy in the rejection alone.
I mean… I don’t think it’s exceptional for an American politician to want to see a prison setup for American detainees.